Beer is one of the most consumed and distributed beverages around the world. Nowadays its production is very varied: we can find the widely commercialized type, produced in big companies, and the craft ones, which are homemade, with local procedures and ingredients.
In this article, we will find out the 9 best beers in the world for their taste and design according to the classification made in 2017 for the World Beer Awards in England.
World's best beer
There are many types of beer: dark or brown, light or blonde, stouts & porters, abbey, pale ale, pilsner, hybrid, draft. They can be made from wheat, barley or malt, and fermented at high or low temperatures. And we could name many more characteristics.
Its preparation and consumption have become so popular that there are even international rankings and prizes that grade and spread the great diversity of the many varieties produced around the world. In general, they qualify the taste, the methods of preparation and even the design of the bottles or cans.
Among the most popular rankings is the BeerAdvocate, where the consumers themselves rate the beers. This classification was founded by the Alström brothers in the United States, so most of the users are American. Ratebeer.com classifies the 100 best ones according to the different types.
Winners 2017
One of the most specialized and popular is the World Beer Awards, which each year rewards the best ones by dividing them into categories.
These are the 9 winners according to the 2017 World Beer Awards ranking (in no particular order).
1. Cookie Muncher: best dark beer
Produced in the southern United States by the company Novo Brazil Brewing, who claim to have a Brazilian soul. It is an American-style Ale beer (fermented at high temperatures).
With an alcohol content of 12% and a bitter and strong taste, Cookie Muncher is a craft beer with powerful aromas and flavored with malt and hops.
2. Ulmer Pilsener: best lager
Ulmer Pilsener is originally from Germany and is manufactured by the company Familienbrauerei Bauhöfer. It is a Pale Lager, which means that it is fermented at a low temperature and has a very soft taste.
It contains 5% alcohol, it is golden-colored and its body is light. The taste begins with a slight sweetness of malt, tastes of bread and honey and ends with the bitterness of floral hop.
3. Where the Buffalo Roam Barleywine: best pale beer
Its production is carried out with clear malt and is fermented at a warm temperature. It is produced in Canada by Cameron's Brewing Company. Its style is Barleywine, originally from England, and is matured in oak barrels.
Where the Buffalo Roam has an intense, fruity malt aroma of moderate intensity, with a toasty tone and a golden to dark brown color. The intensity of its taste and smell may diminish over time.
4. Surtur: best flavored beer
Surtur wins the subcategory of best wood-aged beer. Due to its aging process, made in whiskey barrels, it has a high content of alcohol (14.50%).
Surtur is produced by the Icelandic company Olgerdin Egill Skallagrimsson. It is a dark beer with a slight touch of vanilla sweetness and a toasted corn flavor.
5: Seepferd: best sour ale
This one is made by the German company Rügener Insel-Brauerei GmbH with 5.60% alcohol content, thick and spongy body and yellow or light orange color.
Its taste and aroma are slightly acidic, similar to those of lemon and green fruit. It is dry, sour, and refreshing.
6. Kurikuro: best Stout & Porter
The Stout & Porter types are dark in color and fermented at high temperatures, combining the processes of brown ale and pale ale. The winner of this category is of Japanese origin but is brewed and sold only in North America.
Kurikuro is manufactured by the Paragraph company and based on Hideji Stout with chestnuts grown in Miyazaki. It has herbs and nuts flavor and a 9% alcohol content.
7. Hirsch Hefe Weisse: best wheat beer
Of German origin and made by the company Hirsch-Brauerei Honer GmbH & Co. KG and of Bavarian Hefeweiss style. Hirsch Hefe Weisse is yellow in color, creamy and sweet in taste, slightly similar to banana and bread but with citrus hints. It has a strong aroma and is moderately dense.
8. Hook Norton Red Rye: best speciality beer
The style is Rye, meaning that is made from rye, the seed of the wheat family.
Hook Norton Red Rye is made at high fermentation with five varieties of hops and five different malts. Red-colored, with 4.70% alcohol content, and produced in the UK by Hook Norton Company.
9. Old Tom Labels: best design
Although this one doesn't win by taste, it does by design. It is made in the United Kingdom by the Robinson Brewery company.
It is known as 'the original craft beer' because its origins date back to 1899, when Tom, the old cat, was drawn and chosen to appear in the cover. Old Tom Labels is made from barley and wheat with strong aromas and a fruity touch and has an alcohol content of 8.5%.